Unfortunately, I am prone to overdoing things, so I ended up getting a stress fracture a few months ago. It was my first-ever sports injury. I guess that makes me officially a jock, after 43 years.

Anyway, during my vacation to Mexico in April, I read a book called Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It’s a true story about his encounters with a remote tribe in Mexico’s Copper Canyon whose main claim to fame (besides their dislike of outsiders) is their ability to run incredible distances barefoot, or nearly so.

In reality, the book is about the barefoot running phenomenon that is becoming increasingly popular. One of the characters wears a pair of Vibram shoes, which are essentially a foot glove intended to protect the feet from pebbles and glass, while allowing for a natural running experience. It is our natural way of running, after all. We’ve done it successfully for thousands of years! Well-constructed shoes have only been around for a few hundred hears. Modern running shoes came to market in the mid-1980s with structured heels and arches. Coincidentally, since then foot and ankle injuries have increased to unheard of levels. Some argue, as McDougall does in the book, that it is no coincidence.

I found the book very inspirational, and decided to give them a try. I was training a lot at the time, trying to get ready for a Boston Marathon-qualifying time (3:30) in the San Francisco Marathon. That is when I got my stress fracture. It was a frustrating setback. Several people tried to make a connection between the stress fracture and the barefoot running. I now realize I was simply running too far, too often, not giving my bones time to recover. It has been a very important lesson.

Now that the injury has healed, I am back to running in my Vibram FiveFinger Bikila shoes. They are amazing! It has taken me some time to adjust, though. I find that my lower legs and arch get more of a workout than before. I’ve had to relearn how to run, moving off my heel forward to the front and middle of the foot. I’ve discovered that kicking forward a bit helps me put my foot down properly before using my arch to push off again. The meditative experience of mind-body connection has increased. All-in-all, it’s been a great experience. I’m enjoying running more than ever, and running bare everywhere!

Overachievers beware! This post may cause slight discomfort because it may force you to reconsider the limit of your abilities. In my case, I stepped on the limit of my ability, resulting in a march fracture. It is my first official running injury. Though it is a serious thing, deep in my heart, I know I am now officially a jock. It only took 42 years!

According to Wikipedia, a march fracture also known as fatigue fracture or stress fracture of metatarsal bone is the fracture of the distal third of one of the metatarsals occurring because of recurrent over stress. It is more common in soldiers, but also occurs in hikers, organists, and even those, like hospital doctors, whose duties entail much standing. It mostly occurs in the second metatarsal of the right foot. It is a common cause of foot pain, especially when people suddenly increase their activities. I am thrilled to learn this information, aren’t you?

So as a result of this ingenious discovery, I am now sentenced to the punishment commonly known as “the boot.” The latest apparent evolution of medieval-style devices of torture, the boot is made by a company known as Össur, which specializes in orthopedics and prosthetics. Fortunately, I do not need the latter. My boot, specifically, is known as the Equalizer Air Walker. According to Össur, “Among the many foot and ankle supports that Össur offers is the Equalizer Air Walker — a comfortable alternative to a traditional cast. The Equalizer Air Walker is a simple, adjustable walking boot that combines functionality and superior fit into a comfortable product. You can rely on Össur‘s foot and ankle products to assist in the rehabilitation of sprains, fractures and trauma injuries.” I would describe it as being more like wearing an astronaut boot in full gravity.

So I am going to just go along with this. What other choice do I have? I start a new job on Tuesday, so I will have the opportunity to really make a dramatic first impression. Fortunately, I know my new place of employment will embrace my, boot and all, and make me feel welcome. I could have had a lot worse injury. For instance, a clean break of the metatarsal would have resulted in surgery, a cast, and a long rehabilitation. I expect to be out running again in just 3 — 6 weeks. That’s not so bad.

So now that I have something worthwhile and productive to do with my time, I look forward to enjoying my free time by continuing to work on and develop this site. When I made the transition from a static HTML/CSS site to a dynamic WordPress CMS site, I didn’t have time to do much more than get it up and running to assist in my job search. In the months to come, I look forward to trying some new things and developing more content. I have a couple of friends for whom I have done some web design and development work. I would like to take what I’ve done for them and power it up by moving them into WordPress CMS with its easy to use interface and powerful plug-in options.

Ideally, I want to build a site that is more reflective of all my interests. I have a lot of video I would like to add to my site, as well as many photo albums from recent trips that I would love to share. Now that I have upgraded to Adobe CS5 Master Collection, I have the tools I need to do a lot of things that have been just out of reach before. It is so nice to have the right tools to do the work I love to do! So keep checking me out from time to time. I may not be able to update daily, except my Twitter posts, but I will update at least a few times a week.

An avid runner myself, I gobbled it right up. As soon as I got home, I got on the waiting list at my local running store for a pair of Vibram FiveFingers shoes. They are barefoot-style running shoes, a foot glove, really, complete with separate toes. The idea is that the foot, as it has evolved over millennia, is all we really need to run. All the extra supportive heals and arches promoted by athletic shoe companies for the past 30 years have not led to a reduction in injury. If anything, there have actually been more injuries among people wearing “running shoes” than back in the day when we just ran in ordinary flat shoes.

As anyone who really knows me is already aware, I have a tendency to overdo it with new ideas. I enthusiastically went out and started running in my new “barefoot” shoes. It really is a great experience I would have to recommend. However, I pushed myself too hard, too fast. I forgot that as a result of wearing very well-structured running shoes these past few years, my feet and lower legs have atrophied and lost the ability to run au naturel. So I got my first bona fide running injury after just a few times out. I have not been able to run in any shoes for the past week. It’s a total drag. I am limping around town like an 80-year-old man. It’s horrible, embarrassing and a bit humbling. I just hope my feet will heal and forgive me for my enthusiasm to try something now in time for me to run the San Francisco Marathon at the end of July.

It is situated near the town of Tulum, which is built near the Tulum ruins, one of the only Mayan sites located next to the sea. I was literally just up the street from the entrance to Sian Ka’an, which was totally worth a day trip all the way down to Punta Allen. Another day, I took a day trip to drive out to Chichen Itza, which is so amazing it is truly beyond description. I enjoyed my first week at Cabañas Copal so much, I extended my stay for a second week. It really was that good!

The staff is very friendly and helpful, yet not intrusive. Alejandro at the front desk helped me figure out places to go visit in the area. Jose was really nice to talk to, with a calm gentle spirit. The restaurant and bar staff were polite and friendly. I ate ceviche on the beach every day for lunch. It is absolutely incredible! I really enjoyed how Luis added some special touches in the rooms each day with the towel arrangements. Every encounter with the staff was pleasant and professional.

Maya Spa is full-service and very high quality. Flavio gave me the most amazing deep tissue massage I have ever had in my life. It was so good I returned for a neck and back massage before I departed. After a strange leg muscle injury from a day of snorkeling, I returned for a Swedish massage from another masseur, whose name I don’t recall at the moment. It was incredible and completely relieved my discomfort. I also took in an aloe wrap from Edith to help my well-worn skin cool off a bit before I returned home.

I would highly recommend going to a Temazcal when you visit. It is a Mayan sweat lodge, and there is one right there at Copal. I can honestly say I had a life changing experience at the Temazcal. It is a ritual of renewal and rebirth. I came to Copal to close a very painful chapter of my life and start a new one. The Temazcal provided the perfect rite of passage.

The clientele is very relaxed. If you’re looking for a raging party, this is not the place to go. The focus here is on tranquility, intimacy and spirituality. Most of the people who come here mostly keep to themselves while being polite and friendly to other guests. The domestic and international guests at Copal when I was there included honeymooners, happy singles, retired couples, all sexual orientations, and young families with very well-behaved children thanks to their very active, involved parents. I made many new friends among the guests at Copal.

I rented a car during my stay, which allowed me to head out to visit Tulum Pueblo and Ruins, Coba, Chichen Itza, Sian Ka’an, Playa del Carmen and several nearby cenotes. For my next trip, I will likely just take the bus down to Tulum Pueblo and then a taxi to Copal. There is a shop just down the street that rents mopeds, bicycles and snorkel gear, so most of my needs for transportation and equipment could be met right there. If I need a car, I would just rent one for the day right there at Copal. It’s also very easy to get a taxi to get you around if you don’t want to bike or drive a moped.

The beach was very nice. There are about 10 palapas and a range of furniture to relax and enjoy the beautiful Caribbean atmosphere. Every morning, I got up at sunrise (amazing to watch here) to go swim in the sea. Then in the evening, I returned to swim at sunrise. On the nights the moon lit up the sky, I enjoyed a night swim. On nights without moonlight, I reclined on one of the beach chairs to gaze at the beautiful bright stars. The sand is white and powdery. There are some rocks along the cliffs below Azulik. This end of the beach was sandy when I arrived, but storms out at sea churned up waves that stripped away the sand. It’s a natural beach, so it started to wash back ashore by the time I left.

With the exception of the reception area and restaurant (which are located along the main road through Tulum Playa), the entire resort is clothing optional. It’s a very comfortable option, though. People do as they choose. It’s very relaxed, non-threatening and not sexually charged whatsoever. If you’ve never tried it, this would be a great place to give it a shot. Just be sure to use extra strong sunblock in areas that have not seen much sun because the sun here is bright and intense! Also, the resort to the north allows nudity on their beach right next to Copal, but you shouldn’t wander too far down that side without at least a sarong or wrap, except maybe at sunrise before people are on the beach. I got the perfect tan and enjoyed the freedom of being naked in the sun, cooling off in the sea as needed. If you are interested in other beaches to explore without clothing, check out Cesiak at Sian Ka’an or El Mirador just south of the ruins. There are no services at these beaches, though, so you’ll need to bring in (and take out) anything you need such as food and water.

Snorkeling naked is something I especially recommend! A few times I found myself surrounded by a large school of fish that seems to live in the area. There were probably 10,000+ fish. If you’re interested in cenotes, be sure to check out the area just offshore Azulik 3 — 5 where cenotes deliver freshwater into the sea. When you’ve found the right spot, you’ll see your vision go blurry. Your eyes are fine. It’s just the mixing of salt water and fresh water you are seeing. It’s pretty cool. You’ll also see many beautiful tropical and marine birds. Copal is in a wild place, literally cut out of and surrounded by the jungle. There are many iguana and geckos around the entire property. A few times I had one or two geckos in my cabana, but they are tiny, gentle creatures that couldn’t possibly cause you harm. Enjoy the closeness to nature at Copal. It will add to your experience.

My cabanas were clean and comfortable. These are cabanas, not hotel rooms, so you’ll have plenty of fresh air, bright light and sounds of nature all around you. One night there was a thunderstorm that passed directly over the resort. It was loud and bright in my cabana for a few hours, but I stayed comfortable and dry. Not a drop came through the thatched roof. The first week I was in #13, an ocean view cabana. The second week I was in #29, a garden view cabana. Each was quite comfortable, though the garden view was a bit more quiet. You’ll be surprised how loud the constant roar of waves on the beach can seem in the wee hours of the morning!

I would advise you to be sure to bring your own beach and bath towels. In addition to towels, you’ll need far more sunscreen than you think. Get plenty before you arrive because it really is very expensive–about 200 pesos–at the local mercados and supers. You’ll also want to bring mosquito spray. It was only a problem around sunset for about an hour or so, when mosquitoes from the jungle move out to swarm. Make sure to close up the mosquito net around your bed before sunset to make sure no unwelcome flying visitors spend the night with you beneath your net. Also watch out for the tabanos, large flies with a yellow back that bite, draw blood and really hurt! They are way more troublesome than the mosquitoes, but also far fewer in number. I brought a big bright flashlight and plenty of batteries. I used it once or twice. If you’re really afraid of the dark, you’ll want one. Once I had been there for a few days, I kind of knew my way around and didn’t use it as much. Candles in the cabanas at night are very relaxing, though I recommend shaving before it gets dark… The tap water at Copal is brackish, a mix of salt and fresh water, so you won’t want to drink it. All the cabanas have 20L jugs of purified fresh water. I would use that to brush my teeth and drink. If you want to be mindful about the impact of plastic on the environment, bring your own water bottle to refill from the bottle in your room. Bottled water is cheap, but plastic is forever. I found I needed far less clothing than I brought. The weather is warm and muggy, so think about staying comfortable in this kind of weather: shorts, flip-flops, shirt always optional… Also, keep in mind that Cabanas Copal is an eco-resort, so all these elements add to the experience of a wonderful vacation that is also friendly to nature. I hope everyone enjoys this special place as much as I did.

This weekend I am moving to a new home in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. I have never lived in this area before, so this evening I was doing some basic Internet research to learn about the history of the neighborhood.

I discovered that in 1849, my neighborhood did not even exist. It was part of Yerba Buena Cove in San Francisco Bay! In between then and the 1906 earthquake, the cove was filled in and developed. The South of Market area was mostly industrial then. The destruction of the 1906 earthquake was only exceeded by the fires that followed. My neighborhood took a direct hit from the tremors and fires; whatever did not fall in the quake burned in the fire.

In 1989, the Loma Prieta quake struck the Bay Area. It was—and still remains—the largest earthquake since 1906. Again, my neighborhood was severely impacted as the nearby Embarcadero Freeway, a double-decker built during the auto expansion of the 1950s, was damaged so badly it had to be destroyed. This resulted in a renaissance for the neighborhood, as the City’s waterfront was again opened up for all to enjoy. After that, a development boom resulted in new residential and commercial development for the neighborhood. We are moving into one of these new residential units in a brand new building that I hope is earthquake-safe, fire-proof and flood-resistant.

Designing and developing for the web is a constant learning process, which is fun! Technology evolves at a rapid rate. New standards evolve making old ways of doing things irrelevant or just plain wrong. So staying relevant means keeping up with what’s going on. This makes time-management an essential creative skill.

When it comes to code, it is counterproductive to reinvent the wheel for every project. So I try to write solid code that works and validates the first time. Then I know I can use it over and over again, making adjustments for display purposes. I have developed my own snippets resource book to tap into when I need to do something I’ve already done before. There’s simply no sense reinventing the wheel.

A blog I follow regulary is Chris Coyier’s CSS Tricks. This past week, he added a new feed called Code Snippets. Practically overnight, it has become one of my favorite resources for web development solutions. It’s not a new idea to use snippets, but it’s an amazing new central location for solutions to common problems. Now if we could just get Internet Explorer into the 21st century…

It’s really true. After a while, you walk past the guys in leather chaps…and little else. You practically don’t even see the fancy pet outfits. Perfectly coiffed, exquisitely outfitted elderly twins fade into the background around Union Square. You don’t even question the obvious fact that Speaker Pelosi, Senator Feinstein and Mayor Newsom are entirely too conservative. Basically, it takes something breathtaking and unexpected to grab your attention and make you say, “Holy cow!” And this brings me to my point.

I tell people about this all the time, but they never believe me: There are real live buffalo in San Francisco! Okay, technically, they are the same American Bison, commonly called American Buffalo, that have long been sacred creatures to Native Americans. Growing up in the Midwest, I don’t recall ever seeing one anywhere. Sadly, they no longer freely roam the Great Plains as they did for thousands of years. Whenever I am on the west end of Golden Gate Park, I always take a moment to stop and see these majestic animals. I rarely get a photo clear enough to post, but this time I got lucky.

According to Wikipedia, Bison have been kept in Golden Gate Park since 1891, when a small herd was purchased by the park commission. At the time, the animal’s population in North America had dwindled to an all-time low and San Francisco made a successful effort to breed them in captivity. In 1899, the paddock in the western section of the park was created. The animals today are cared for by staff from the San Francisco Zoo.

Growing up in the Midwest, lightning and thunder were frequent occurrences. The sound of  a storm approaching came up as a low rumble over the horizon, growing louder as it approached. I’ve had many nights’ sleep interrupted by it, to the point it became a soothing, comforting experience. When I moved to California as a teenager, I left that pleasant experience behind along with colorful autumn leaf displays, cold snowy winters, and stormy spring tornado seasons. I’ve always missed the thunderstorms, though.

Last night, we had a nice one pass through the Bay Area. After going to bed around 1 a.m., I was first awakened by the approaching storm around 3:30. By 5:00, I just got up for a while to watch and listen. Around 6:00, I went back to sleep satisfied with the experience. Suddenly, about 8:30, a bright flash and immediate loud explosion rocked my neighborhood, waking me up and sending the cats scurrying beneath the bed. It reminded me of the crescendo of light and sound that happens at the peak of Midwestern storms. It turns it was an exploding transformer, that left part of the city in the dark.

I don’t know why I find the weather so fascinating, but I do. I guess I love the intensity of nature, especially when nobody is being hurt. This afternoon, I found this photo on the San Francisco Chronicle’s website. I’ve never seen a photo like this, of lightning striking into the fog. I guess it’s another only-in-San Francisco thing.

If you want to, you can read the whole story there: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/12/BA0319MAI7.DTL.

The only hitch came when I tried to copy files stored on my Time Capsule. My Time Capsule backup files are fine, but I had other valuable files on the same disk that did not exist elsewhere. When I tried to copy several gigabytes of files to my computer, the procedure failed repeatedly. So I ended up going out to purchase new external drives for secure storage of my most valuable files: my portfolio. I will now keep those valuable files on one drive with a separate backup. I’m still slowly copying those files over, which I will complete over the next few days. I definitely gained a better understanding of how these things need to be set up to be (mostly) fail-proof.

All-in-all, I am very pleased with the new system. It runs quickly and improves on the previous system, which was already the best operating system ever. Owning a Mac definitely costs more, but I still believe I get a good value for the dollars spent. Snow Leopard adds further value.